Oh the Blood(bats)- Guiding you through DMS (Updated 7/11)

[oukashi okamii]

I hope that newbies can use this.

[xXAzarielXx]

Zzyli

xXAzarielXx

:O oh forgot about this thread

Zzyli - Zzy as in Xylophone, Li as in leaf

It's still here biggrin

Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative...

i love your avi O_O

[Zzyli]

Zzyli - Zzy as in Xylophone, Li as in leaf

I've put in MP links to the finished Epic Recipes for your viewing pleasure.

Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative...

[Erynnis_Tristis]

I thought big dogs should be giving me tissue samples for Pitch Black, but...nothing. Only the NFs seem to work for it.

[Zzyli]

Erynnis_Tristis

I thought big dogs should be giving me tissue samples for Pitch Black, but...nothing. Only the NFs seem to work for it.

Zzyli - Zzy as in Xylophone, Li as in leaf

Umm... you can only get Night Frights from Yellow Maze and Big Dogs from Green Maze to count towards your quest (oh and counts. Doing Tuna Run= fast quest completion).

I'll have to check the wording of what I said on the front page, the quest itself is certainly ambiguous in what it requests.

Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative...

[Erynnis_Tristis]

Zzyli

Erynnis_Tristis

I thought big dogs should be giving me tissue samples for Pitch Black, but...nothing. Only the NFs seem to work for it.

Zzyli - Zzy as in Xylophone, Li as in leaf

Umm... you can only get Night Frights from Yellow Maze and Big Dogs from Green Maze to count towards your quest (oh and counts. Doing Tuna Run= fast quest completion).

I'll have to check the wording of what I said on the front page, the quest itself is certainly ambiguous in what it requests.

Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative...

Oh, is that what it is. My crews rarely get past the yellow section before midnight, so that's why.

The quest definitely says nothing about it. Well only something like more powerful minions...I guess those Big Dogs in the first section are just cute little puppy dogs, lol. smile

[MistressMinako]

I have a question o/ I started heal/tanking but for some reason I keep losing aggro. I'm healing myself and my crew like mad but I'll have rooms where everything just completely falls apart. What am I doing wrong?

Also, what is the strategy to keep NF from attacking? I swapped rings and healed but I still managed to lose aggro twice :/ My current set is: Bandage/Wish/Diagnose/Meat/Divinity/Fortune's Favor/Fitness/Integrity. My passives are CL11 or less which I got in trouble for because apparently passives are supposed to be CL12 for YM?

[Zzyli]

MistressMinako

I have a question o/ I started heal/tanking but for some reason I keep losing aggro. I'm healing myself and my crew like mad but I'll have rooms where everything just completely falls apart. What am I doing wrong?

Also, what is the strategy to keep NF from attacking? I swapped rings and healed but I still managed to lose aggro twice :/ My current set is: Bandage/Wish/Diagnose/Meat/Divinity/Fortune's Favor/Fitness/Integrity. My passives are CL11 or less which I got in trouble for because apparently passives are supposed to be CL12 for YM?

It really depends on a lot of things. Effective tanking is partially about healing & partially about positioning- knowing where to stand so that if you have aggro, you're the only one being hit. Your set sounds fine- people do things differently, but it sounds like it would be quite an okay set for yellow maze. It's not even about being able to magically keep aggro, if it shifts over to one of the DPSers, all you need to do is use a raged wish a few times and hopefully things will get back on track.

Other than that, a general tip is to try and not stick yourself where everyone will be coming in the door. That tends to lead to things getting a bit exciting. I figure as there's one tank & 5 DPSers, in general it's the tank's job to move, unless their moving makes things really exciting (like pulling over the Night Fright in the room)

Night Fright tanking is hit and miss. It's really a variety of factors including the CL of your other crew members, the balance of the CL of your other crew members and whether raged adrenaline/R4 Hack is used. If the crew is all CL 10.6 and under, normally someone who is self-healing can hold aggro, especially if you reserve one or two vampires to attack you so that you can heal more.

It's a balance of speed & power. If you have an all low-levelled crew, you'll probably be safe as each person is doing minimal damage compared to your un-adjusted healing capabilites, but once you throw a couple of 11+ into the crew, their damage output may outstrip your healing capacity, especially if you're just ring swapping.

Honestly though, if your crew is all 11+, you can stand to take a few hits from the Night Fright & I strongly advocate either letting DPSers attack at full speed until Aggro swaps, or even just letting the NF scare you into a corner, straight-out tanking it and having the other attack it from behind.

Without seeing you, I guess these are general tips that I can give. Don't worry too much about the levels of your rings, while levelling passives will increase their effectiveness, it's possible for a competent and cautious person to be a crew healer/tank from 10.5 and up (I did, and a lot of other early DMSers did the same). I'd be happy to join a crew with you if I'm on when you're free and you wanted some extra tips. Also, Omni's mini-guide to tanking is fairly comprehensive if you haven't looked at it yet.

[MistressMinako]

Zzyli

Thank you for the info and you might've helped explain why I was doing better with a crew of < 10.5 over crews of suppressed CL11.4s. The ~10.5 crew was being very cautious and using CC whereas the ~11.4 crews were split mobbing and making it harder to keep myself in a good position (and little to no CC).

Is it better to go into a far corner and trigger extra vamps or stay somewhat near the rest of the crew (in Wish range, not like, right next to them). I think part of my problem is developing that sense of where to appropriately stand and when to move away from the crew.

[Zzyli]

MistressMinako

Thank you for the info and you might've helped explain why I was doing better with a crew of < 10.5 over crews of suppressed CL11.4s. The ~10.5 crew was being very cautious and using CC whereas the ~11.4 crews were split mobbing and making it harder to keep myself in a good position (and little to no CC).

Is it better to go into a far corner and trigger extra vamps or stay somewhat near the rest of the crew (in Wish range, not like, right next to them). I think part of my problem is developing that sense of where to appropriately stand and when to move away from the crew.

It's really a question of what you feel comfortable with. I'm a big fan of luring ALL THE THINGS, but I've had a lot of experience, and think it's fun to live on the edge of death sometimes. If you're not as confident, getting 2-3 things and pulling them off into a corner with you can be a good way to keep the aggro of the room without having to worry too much about killing yourself. If things start getting a bit hairy, you can move closer to the crew and wish them. A lot of it is just about practice & developing your own style. Yellow maze is reasonably forgiving, and if you're helping out with people who are lower levelled/less experienced, they're usually pretty happy as long as your style works most of the time (I killed myself & most of my crew the other day by somehow going in the door kneeling blaugh )

Speed crews tend to be a challenge to work with, owing to their high damage output and tendency to run all over the place, attacking a few things at once. In that case, I find it's easiest to just take on a healer role, and not worry too much about holding aggro as long as people are staying alive.

Again, I think it's very much about practice. The more you take on the healer/tank role, the more comfortable you'll get with doing it. It seems like you've got the basics downpat, it's just a question of refining your art.

[Sharacia]

pandexX

I hope that newbies can use this.

They could, if they figured out how to read... (Most of them seem to fail at that.)

[Zzyli]

Sharacia

pandexX

I hope that newbies can use this.

They could, if they figured out how to read... (Most of them seem to fail at that.)

Some do. I know occasionally I have people say to me 'you're that girl who made that guide', so I figure if it's helping even some people, it's a good thing.

*Runs off to make 6 I'm new to Alchemy, need help threads on different mules*

[Sharacia]

Zzyli

Sharacia

pandexX

I hope that newbies can use this.

They could, if they figured out how to read... (Most of them seem to fail at that.)

Some do. I know occasionally I have people say to me 'you're that girl who made that guide', so I figure if it's helping even some people, it's a good thing.

*Runs off to make 6 I'm new to Alchemy, need help threads on different mules*

I said most of them... And, no please don't. Then I'd have to reply by linking in your thread...

[Zzyli]

Sharacia

I said most of them... And, no please don't. Then I'd have to reply by linking in your thread...

Sorry- you'll have to excuse my slightly cheeky sense of humour.

[Sharacia]

Zzyli

Sharacia

I said most of them... And, no please don't. Then I'd have to reply by linking in your thread...

Sorry- you'll have to excuse my slightly cheeky sense of humour.

No problem. Does it have a thread of it's own or do I do that here?